Mick: The Life of Randolph Stow

Randolph Stow was one of the great Australian writers of his generation. His novel To the Islands - written in his early twenties after living on a remote Aboriginal mission - won the Miles Franklin Award for 1958. In later life, after publishing seven remarkable novels and several collections of poetry, Stow's literary output slowed. This biography examines the productive period as well as his long periods of publishing silence.In Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow, Suzanne Falkiner unravels the reasons behind Randolph Stow's quiet retreat from Australia and the wider literary world. Meticulously researched, insightful and at times deeply moving, Falkiner's biography pieces together an intriguing story from Stow's personal letters, diaries, and interviews with the people who knew him best. And many of her tales - from Stow's beginnings in idyllic rural Australia, to his critical turning point in Papua New Guinea, and his final years in Essex, England - provide us with keys to unlock the meaning of Stow's rich and introspective works.About the AuthorSuzanne Falkiner grew up on a sheep station in central New South Wales and now lives in Sydney, where she divides her time between writing, reviewing, editing and occasional travel journalism. Extensively travelled, Suzanne has lived in Paris, Italy, and New York, where she completed postgraduate short courses in Fiction, Non Fiction and Editing at Columbia University in 1985. Suzanne was a finalist in the Australian Vogel Literary Awards in 1980 and 1981, and was among the founding members of Redress Press in the early 1980s.